DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Danica Patrick gained a great deal of experience in her first Sprint Cup race.

For 59 laps, she learned how to race a Sprint Cup car. And on the final lap, she learned just how much damage can occur when hitting the Daytona International Speedway wall.

On the final lap of her 60-lap qualifying race Thursday, Patrick was cruising down the backstretch in the inside lane when Aric Almirola and Jamie McMurray touched beside her, and Almirola’s car slammed into Patrick’s.

Patrick slid several hundred feet before crashing into the inside SAFER Barrier, which softened a crushing blow that destroyed the hood of her Stewart-Haas Racing car.

“I’m really just bummed out that we didn’t finish the last two corners,” Patrick said after walking out of the infield care center with no injuries. “Instead we have a … car in the wall and lots of damage.”

She finished 16th and will have to start near the rear of the field for the Daytona 500 because she will have to go to backup car for her Sprint Cup debut.

“It sucks,” said Patrick, who is making the transition from full-time IndyCar racing to NASCAR this season. “But you just kind of brace yourself and in these situations be glad that I’m a small driver and that I’ve got room and just kind of hug it in and let ’er rip.”

For most of her qualifying race, Patrick ran near the rear of the lead pack, flirting with the top 10 but running there only briefly.

Patrick, who will drive a full Nationwide season for JR Motorsports and 10 Cup races for SHR this year, will become the third female to start the Daytona 500 (along with Janet Guthrie and Shawna Robinson) on Sunday.

“She wanted to go out there and ride around a bunch of guys and be in there and earn the respect of them by proving she can do this, she’s not all over the place,” crew chief Greg Zipadelli said.

“I never saw her car move. But I saw a lot of grown men who couldn’t keep their car under control. So maybe they need to work on that.”

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Her car owner, Tony Stewart, won the qualifying race and believed Patrick could have raced more aggressively but their goal was more earning respect than the best finish possible.

"It's hard for her now because she's trying to gain the confidence of the guys around her that she's solid and is going to make good decisions, not just going to pull the pin every time she gets the opportunity to break out a line," Stewart said.

"I think there's more aggression and confidence in her than what she showed here today. It shows her poise and what she's trying to do to gain the other drivers' confidence."

Patrick said she will review the accident to try to learn if she could have done anything different. She thought the racing overall was calm – until that final lap.

“The bottom line started moving well so that’s where I was,” Patrick said. “We were just getting our run down the back [stretch]. All of a sudden I got hit.

“I’m betting somebody also got hit outside of me. … Guys get so close on the side-drafting that they’re touching you sometimes and maybe in that situation it was a hitting side-draft.”

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Patrick tried to remain optimistic, hoping that her backup car will be faster. She will practice on Friday and Saturday.

“It just sucks,” Zipadelli said. “It puts us behind.”

But what disappointed Zipadelli most was the feeling that Patrick didn’t do anything wrong.

“She did what she was supposed to do – come here, ride around a little bit, kind of learn a little bit, get on and off pit road, good clean pit boxes [getting] in and out,” Zipadelli said. “There were a lot more squirrels out there that we needed to stay away from, obviously.

“She wasn’t doing anything wrong riding around the bottom. The bottom lane was moving. I guess they were having a little bit of a tug of war up top there.”